GDCh-Kolloquium: Prof. Dr. Christoph Schalley, FU Berlin

Supramolecular Gels & Polymers: From Superhydrophobic and Slippery Surfaces to Directional Transport along Gradients

In the first part, a very simple production procedure for superhydrophobic and slippery surfaces is reported. The deposition of a gel leads to the surface roughness needed for superhydrophobicity and in a way mimics the Lotus leaf effect.
The second part of the talk discusses approaches to chemically and light-switchable mono- and multilayers of rotaxanes on gold surfaces. With alternating layer-by-layer deposition of the tetralactam macrocycles or the corresponding rotaxanes and various connecting metal ions, coordination oligomers with well-defined sequences can be built that are anchored on one end on the surface.
The third part discusses how to use a supramolecular polymer self-assembling from easy-to-synthesize monomers as a supramolecular machine for the directional transport of particles as their cargo over millimeter distances.